Saturday Jan 17
Me
6:am Fly Denver >Charlotte > Philadelphia
Train Phi > Washington DC
Lots of Obama people in the Charlotte airport on their way to DC. Lots of Obama excitement. Everyone loves my Obama hat. Everyone who thinks race doesn't matter, should visit the South. Wear your Obama gear.
Philadelphia airport: ghost town. Seriously - there were three people waiting for luggage with me, all locals on their way home. I couldn't figure out why there were broken balloons and streamers all over the place.
Local train to Amtrak station. More people - 1/2 Obama bound and all happy and bubbling.
Amtrak station (30th St station Philadelphia): wall to wall people, all going to DC, 75%for Obama, 25% just cause. 100% happy and buzzing.
I get take out (chicken and blue cheese crepe) and the train left Philadelphia at 5:35- just starting to get dark and a loud buzz about he inauguration weekend.
I get to Union Station, Washington DC and it is chaos. People everywhere. Balloons. Stages, sound equipment, press, and more people. All happy and buzzing. I decide to have dinner there and then get to my room and happen to run into Colorado friends and we have dinner.
Dinner- subway (Metro) and bus to my room.
Obama
President Obama and his family took the train from Philadelphia to DC early that day. They had an event at the 30th Street Station - it drew crowds including everyone who was going to DC later that day, when I got there. Aha- now I see the balloons and streamers and stuff at the airport (there was event there too) and at 30th Street Station (nice, very nice bldg- not Chicago Union Station (pre-remodel) but nice.)
They had an event at Wilmington where they picked up Vice President Biden and his family.
They all had a large event at Union Station in DC which drew large crowds, many of whom were still there when I got there later. (wow! that place rocks. I found the Body Shop manager - she's been there many years. In introduced myself and explained how I was once hanging in her front window. She took me to her office in back - I'm still hanging there.)
Sunday Jan 18
Me
I get to the National Mall mid-morning. Cell phones work 1 in 10 calls, or less. Text messaging works better- but I suck at it.
I meet the Colorado friend who invited me and his friend from DC - they met in Iowa 2007 canvassing and working for team OBama and the Iowa Caucus (He can't win Iowa. Yes we can.) We stroll down to the Lincoln Memorial, the stage for the We Are One (could have also been "We Are Won") concert. Security is tighter starting at the WWII Memorial. We find space stage right (behind the President Elect's box) and a great jumbotron and speaker tower. We hang out until the concert- U2, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Samuel Jackson, Jamie Fox, Tom Hanks, and on and on, (see We Are One)
Before and during the concert there are low-flying helicopters all over the place. At one point we see three Marine helicopters fly low right over the mall toward the White House and conclude President Bush must be in one of them I think that has to be one of the most fun flying jobs there is- flying low and fast in a metro area.
I'm struck during the U2 set when Bono talks about "four lads from north Dublin playing for President Obama". That U2 would have been roughly my age and that in the Viet Nam era there were regular protests on the Mall and in the space that now is the Viet Nam Memorial Wall, just across the way. And no way President Nixon would have let the lads climb around the Lincoln Memorial, plug in and rock out.
Tears freeze on my face- first time on this trip. And the first tears since I met Kerrey & Ethel Kennedy, Robert's daughter and widow, at the DNC in Denver last summer. I didn't cry election night- I couldn't figure out why everyone was so surprised. I showed up at the Denver Democratic Party party at about 8:30 local - and knew that at 9pm when the polls closed in CA, OR and WA it would be over. Which, of course, it was. Yes we can.
The concert has astonishing power - everyone is happy and in a good mood. Concert highlights (seriously watch it here We Are One) - Tom Hanks, Jamie Foxx, Garth Brooks singing Shout , U2 and, of course, the President Elect.
After, I walk the Mall back to the Washington Monument with the friends to reconnect with the rest of their group. We all walk to Georgetown- thousands of people in the street. We find some dive bar claiming to be the "Inauguration Headquarters" and have a drink. They leave to go to their room near Baltimore - I walk around the block to have dinner with a friend who lives there. Wall to wall people - he says this feels typical for a holiday weekend.
We watch the football game, have dinner and catch up since I haven't seen him in a few years. He confesses he voted for Obama, the first Democratic vote he's ever cast. I try to be supportive and we talk national security and geopolitical stuff. He acknowledges that if we had elected McCain when the Israelis requested assistance to go after the Iranian nuclear facilities, which they did a few weeks ago, Mccain would have apparently gotten us into a shooting war in Iran. We agree that would not have been a good thing.
After dinner, we walk to the "Exorcist Stairs" and split- me to Metro, him home.
Obama
He was at the same concert as me, with his family, the VP elect and his family and a couple dozen others. He seemed to like it just as much as me- why wouldn't he? He's about my age. I'm sure they had dinner somewhere.
Monday Jan 19, Martin Luther King Day
Me
Mid-day I go to the Mall and hang with thousands of others. I pay special attention tot he garden around the National Botanic Garden and the new trees planted around the Capitol (White and Red Oak- just like I planted at home, except bigger and many more). I try to remember the pictures of the March on Washington when Dr King gave the "I Have a Dream Speech." I'm reminded of James Earl Jones as Terry Mann in the movie "A Field of Dreams" explaining why he dropped out of politics after the 60s. "....I was the East Coast distributor of "involved." I ate it, drank it, and breathed it... Then they killed Martin, Bobby, and they elected Tricky Dick twice, ...."
Security is setting up for the next day- I head back to my room to get dressed for the Colorado Democratic Party Inaugural Ball.
The Colorado Ball is fun- I see neighbors and meet people I know from Colorado and several others who are just there- like the museum curator who wants to meet my mom's neighbor, the former governor of Arizona, Raul Castro.
I wore my Air Force dress uniform (Mess Dress- tuxedo equivalent). Yes, it fit fine. I tell anyone who asks that all my medals were awarded for breaking things, which is mostly true.
I meet our Congressman, Mike Coffman (R, CD6). He's a significant improvement over Tom Tancredo - yes, that's my home district. I'm sure we would have re-elected Tancredo by double digits if he ran. Instead, Obama wins the county by 14% (56/42) and the D candidate for the House loses by 18%. Coattails? More like reverse coat tails.
I mention the numbers to Congressman Coffman and point out that plenty of his voters clearly also voted for Obama and conclude we want him to work with the President. I'm a lot taller than him - and though he was Colorado Secretary of State before he was Congressman, I think in a balanced, completive, district I could take him. I don't say this to him- though I did ask him if he could explain how the 2010 census will feed the districting process.
He gives me his card and tells me to be in touch. I then squeezed in a quick encouragement that he should get involved with the new VA hospital that's supposed to be built in Denver. It's about eight years delayed. Before he can say anything, I sincerely congratulate him on winning, offer to help him move into his new office and step away to let the line up say hello. When I sought out his assistant, introduced myself and told her the same things. She gave me another card of the Congressman's and told me he wanted us to be in touch. I emailed him later that night and assured him I would be.
Obama
DId a service project with his family and th eVP select for MLK day.
Tuesday Jan 20 2009
Me
I get to the Mall around 6 or 6:30. The Metro is packed, but there's room to get on. Not all stations are open, but one close enough to the Mall is. It takes a few minutes just to get out of the station the crowd never stopped moving. I follow the signs for my silver ticket and move slowly but steadily toward the Mall.
Eventually, we get to security and five minutes later I was in the "zone" on the Mall. I started out just below 3rd St- got across 3d St with a pack of other silver ticket holders and was prepared to hang out just below the reflecting pool. But then a temporary barrier broke- I think the plastic got brittle in the cold. And it was never meant to have hundreds of people leaning on it. And a bunch of us move around the reflecting pool to the top of the Mall just behind the seated area. I had a good view of the stage, a great view to the first jumbotron on the left (as you look at the Capitol) and excellent audio. And then we all waited.
Yes it was cold waiting. So what? Yes it was crowded. So? No, there was no coffee or food in the zone. Yeah it was a little hard. But , really, just a little. And it's not like we were doing anything important or meaningful - just watching the making of the President. Yes we can wait.
I was surprised how great the music was. Those military bands can really play. And, of course, "Air and SImple Gifts" was awesome.
The introductions were ...political staging. Someone should be admonished for giving all those kids gum. I don't know who the kids were- not the Obamas. All chewing gum. I would have preferred them to be playing Game Boy, or better, just watching. I mean really, it's not like we make a new president every day.
Poppy Bush looked really old. And it also looked like his wife couldn't wait to get away from him.
VP Cheney was in a wheel chair and looked really beat.
I notice that when the Obama kids come in, Marion Robinson, their grandmother, is not introduced though she was accompanying them and will be living in the White House with them. Everyone around me notices too. And as more than one person comments, I realize that plenty of people are looking for slights and disrespect. Black Americans who fear that the Obama presidency will be taken less seriously because he's black. Women because he's a man. Grandmothers because Marion Robinson was not introduced.
The Chief Justice looks fit- but some of the other justices not so much. I think we'll be seeing appointments in the next four years.
After, I connect with another friend I haven't seen in years. Meet his wife and the three of us have a late lunch in a jampacked place not far from Mall and close to the parade route. We watched the parade on tv.
Obama
I lost track of all the press. I'm sure he had a full morning. He looked awesome on the stage.
The speech struck the right tone with me. I'm sure many, like me, were hoping for one of his soaring, awe inducing cheer fests. But I think he was right- the country needs to pull some band aids off, might as well get on with it.
We're bogged down in two wars, the economy is struggling, banks are failing and unemployment is rising. Too many Americans are worried about their jobs and mortgages. (me and most of my family included)
I was pleased he slammed the door on the outgoing administration and found his hard stance on national security reassuring.
I'm struck that the sarcasm of the campaign has some truth in it.
He was just telling us what we all wanted to hear - We can be a better country and better people than we've been. There is a higher standard and we ought to choose to hold ourselves up to it. There are millions of good reasons to hope. We can do better, and we will do better. Yes we can.
I also start to think that if it can be true that We Are One, it will be a powerful thing. Once upon a time in this country nursing and teaching got away with paying low wages (and too often do now too) partly because the recruiting was simplified by the fact they were the only respectable professions women could enter. That hasn't been true for some time now and the recruitment has suffered., though the other professions have benefitted. Well. if we are going to become a post racial society, a post racial economy, if in fact We Can Be One, that should be a powerful contribution to out nation's economic and political well being. Yes we can.
I see pictures later of th e moving vans showing up at the White House while they were in the parade.
And I see the press coverage of the balls they attended. They look good - though I don't really care about that. They can dance- and I don't really care about that either.
We made a President. A lot of people apparently thought we couldn't. We could. We did.
Wed Jan 21 2008
Me
I leave for the train station at 3:am. It's crowded when I get there and stays that way.
Train DC>Phi- packed, as all trains were all day long. But happy.
Flight from Phi>Chi packed, as all flights out of Phi and BWI , National and Dulles were all day long. My flight was full of happy people.
Flight from Chi > Den, also packed. And mostly happy people.
I get home tired and wired.
Obama
Announces that the detainment facility at Guantanamo is going to be closed and does a hundred other things to get to work.
